For those of you that do or have ever played organized sports, you know what's it like to have several different types of coaches. And, to some extent, they've all had their positive qualities. However, nobody ever considers every coach they've ever had "good", despite the positive qualities they may possess.
Why is that? What makes "good" coaches good? But, more importantly, what makes great coaches great? Personally, I believe it goes beyond the wins and beyond the playing philosophies.
It takes a lot to make a good coach, but it takes even more to make a great one.
Good coaches win games, but it goes far beyond that. Even the crappy ones that don't care for their teams or their individual players can win games. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while, right? Personally I believe that becoming a good coach is the point when they start to care for their players as a person, rather than just a number on the field.
Now, any athlete that has every played can give off a list of GOOD coaches. They can tell you all about how in fourth grade they were the winningest peewee football team in the whole town or how their high school coaches would throw pep rallies and helped his players get recruited. Now, that all sounds pretty great, right...?
Think again.
Good coaches are solid stepping stones to the destination you obviously hope to end up at. If you're a parent, aim for your kids to grow up with good coaches. When you join a team, talk to the coach and learn what his (or her) motives are. Yes, as a kid playing sports, it is important to have fun and to learn the game- winning isn't everything. But at the same time, make sure that your child's coach doesn't pour all of his attention onto his (and only his) son or daughter.
Believe me, I grew up the coach's son. But it was different for me; my dad was a very good coach... A VERY good one. He cared for each and everyone of his players. Sure, he'd get mad and he'd get in kids' faces at times, but his unwavering care for his players never once changed. He wanted the best for each and every one of the guys on his teams throughout the years. It also helped that my dad knew how to win games, but that's beside the point.
I feel as if my father never quite reached his full potential of being a GREAT coach; truthfully, I feel like most if not all coaches at the lower levels can never become great...
Great coaches take the next step past being good. Yes, of course the great coaches win games, but so do the good ones. And yes, the great coaches care for their players, but so do the good ones.
What sets great coaches apart from the good ones is the community and the atmosphere that they create with their teams. One of the most amazing parts of sports teams are the bonds that athletes can create with their teammates, and great coaches help to endorse that "family mentality".
Think about it; on a football field, who plays better together: the quarterback and running back that are best friends, or the quarterback and the running back that don't talk when they get off the field? It's the same situation across all platforms of every different team sport. When there is a family dynamic, and players see each other as brothers rather than just teammates, everything else comes easily.
Great coaches are simply great because they instill the value of that "family" in their players and in their programs.
I believe it's hard for GREAT coaches to come forward these days simply because programs at the younger levels are more split up.
For example: a youth basketball program may have six different teams ranging across six different age groups, but each is team going to be coached by a different coach with different philosophies. For that very reason, it's nearly impossible for the younger kids to buy into the highest level coach's ideas and beliefs, because all six teams have to buy into something different.
For that reason, I really only see the great coaches arise at the high school level or higher. Once you get to the high school level, there may be different levels of play (Freshman, Sophomore, Varsity), but each group is going to be generally taught in the same way and with the same priorities that the varsity coach preaches to his older guys.
A good coach can get his varsity guys to just sort of nod along and go with the flow so that they'll win x amount of games.
But a great coach...? A great coach would have each and every level of the program buying in to what he's preaching. Buying into a program turns into full weight rooms for morning lifts. It turns into full gyms for "optional" workouts. Then that extra effort will transfer into every aspect of those student athlete's lives.
From the classroom, to their first job, to their eventual marriage, great coaches will follow kids till the end. And no I don't mean that literally. The lessons and the determination and the commitment that a student athlete learns from a great coach will prevail over anything else in their life- I promise you that...
When things get hard in the classroom, someone who had a great coach in life would be willing to look around them for help. A great coach would have put his athletes in a situation where maybe they can't do something by themselves so they have to rely on those that they see as FAMILY around them to help carry them to the end...
When a former (or current) student athlete lands a job, the hard work a great coach would have preached will easily carry over into their daily shifts, and it will make their experience working so much more rewarding...
But, here's my favorite indirect value that a GREAT coach instills in his players.
Commitment... A trait that's almost unheard of in today's world. A great coach shows his players how to, essentially, turn chicken sh*t into chicken salad. Making the most out of a terrible situation is what commitment is truly based on. I feel like this goes perfectly into a student athlete's future marriage. Without a great coach, a student athlete may have never learned what it's like to fully buy into something, through thick and thin, because you have someone else relying on you. If things turned south in your future marriage, would you just run away, leaving your kids with a split home, or even a single parent...? Or would you fight through it and turn Chicken Sh*t into chicken salad? Putting others (in this case one's kids) is what COMMITMENT is all about, and that's the one thing a great coach can instill in a young man/woman better than anyone else.
Good coaches can make a difference. They can carry a kid a very long way and help them mature in a lot of ways.
But a great coach will teach your child lessons that will last them a lifetime, and a great coach will genuinely be a life-changing aspect in your young athlete's life.
